Migration Assistant Nightmares

I tried migrating my G4 iBook running Tiger to my new MacBook running Leopard. All went horribly wrong - I'd been using File Vault so my usual account no longer would let me log in - on either machines! I did some research (a little late I know) and found the migration assistant is known to cause problems in this situation. So I did a clean install on my MacBook and its running fine. I'd done a backup 2 weeks go so currently have lost 2 weeks of info - not major but still a pain.
Strangely my iCal file I'd backed up was empty so not sure how or if I can get it back (though its on my iPhone so I get it from there). Ditto with iTunes.
Is it worth trying to get my old iBook account back and running and if so how??? Or should I cut my losses and just spend the time recreating the past 2 weeks info I've lost on the MacBook?
Advice would be MUCH appreciated
I hope next time I get a new MacBook I remember to back up right before I set it up.....

Thanks - I had already seen that thread which helped me make sure I had the right files copied over - apart from iCal which still remains a mystery. As does what on earth happened to my home folder on the G4.....

Similar Messages

Migration Assistant Mav.: not showing ML Time Machine backup

Hi Mac community,
my own MBP mid 2010:
clean install of Mavericks
connected FireWire 800 external hard disk with recent Time Machine backup done in Mountain Lion
started Migration Assistant, selected the Time Machine disk, and transferred all user data
everything worked absolutely PERFECTLY and now Mavericks runs smoothly with all my old user data
So I wanted to do the same thing with a relative's late 2009 iMac:
still in Mountain Lion, doing Time Machine backups to TWO different USB 2.0 hard disks
browsing the Time Machine disks manually to check whether all the files are there -- they are, including the (hidden) ~/Library folder
clean install worked fine, Mavericks runs OK
starting Migration Assistant in Mavericks ⇒ and - OH HORROR - the connected external Time Machine hard disk does not show up as a source - in fact, NOTHING shows up
So I copied over the data manually, for which I had to enable the root account (how else would one delete/replace a whole ~/Library folder??)
Then I tried to fix permissions manually (because other users could now read the files in the home folder).
All the old data (mails, contacts, calendars) is still there, but the whole thing doesn't really run smoothly; each time one logs into the account, keychain asks weird questions and dock icons pointing to programs show questions marks again. Later today, I'll try to fix permissions for the home folder as a whole (Recovery Boot ⇒ Terminal ⇒ resetpassword ⇒ Reset Home Folder Permissions and ACLs), but I'd rather do another clean install and somehow get Migration Assistant to offer me the Time Machine backup as a source for user data transfer - AS IT SHOULD in an OS that 'just works' ...
Anything I could do to convince Mavericks to use my old Time Machine backup??
This is a real nightmare for me ⇒ I f*cked up a relative's system -- really hope I can fix it again.
Cheers, folks!

sorry, i don't know what else it could be then. if you have another external drive you can try doing a full system restore from the TM backups onto that drive and see if MA will recognize that drive and migrate from it. other than this there is always manual migration. slow and tedious but it can be done. see this link for help with that
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6185507

Migration Assistant can't find my external hard drive

I'm trying to set up my Mac Mini and it isn't working. Three steps into the process and already I'm locked up. I'm trying to migrate data from an external FireWire 400 drive. I have to use an adapter because the Mini only has a Firewire 800 port. That's not a problem because I've used the adapter several times and it works fine. The external drive is connected directly to the Mini and turned on. It's been turned on before I went into this mode. Now the Migration Assistant is hung up on Select The Source with a spinning circle and the Continue button is greyed out. I don't want to bypass this step and do everything manually because that's a nightmare and with my schedule it will likely drag out for months.
Can anyone help?

Personally I have always used the manual method for moving my files over to a new iMac and never use Migration Assistant.
Go to the Apple drop down menu and select Force Quit.. and if Migration Assistant has failed, force quit it and try re-launching it again from your Applications Utility folder.

HT4889 Migration Assistant unable to transfer from OS 10.4.11 to Mountain Lion

I am following the instructions here
How to use Migration Assistant to transfer files from another Mac
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4889?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_USto migrate from OS 10.4.11 to Mountain Lion, but Migration Assistant gets stuck looking for my old computer. This occurs after I select "From a Time Machine backup or other disk".
My old computer is in Target Disk mode and visible in the new Macbook's Finder, so the Firewire cable is OK.
I also tried migrating from a 120 GB hard-drive backup through the USB port. Still no luck.
I am running Tiger on my old Powerbook G4, and Mountain Lion on a MacBook Pro.
Any ideas?
Any good guides to transferring the files manually?
Thanks
Seth

It is not a good idea to wholesale restore your entire home directory from Tiger to Mountain Lion. If Migration Assistant had worked, you would have a nightmare on your hands with incompatibilities in the home library folder.
Here is what I would do:
Use Target Disk Mode to mount the old Tiger Mac on the new Mountain Lion Machine installation.
Ensure that the original files have the same user id and group ownership between both machines.
Get the Tiger home directory files to the ML home directory
Do not drag and drop folders from Tiger, that already exist on ML. Drag the contents between folders. The reason is that folders created by ML, may have different permissions and lower level access control list settings than their Tiger counterparts.
Do not move the contents of the home Library folder on Tiger at all. You are asking for mayhem if you splatter this over its counterpart on ML.
You can drag and drop any folders that you created on the Tiger home directory to your new home directory on ML.
Do not drag any Tiger applications to the new Mountain Lion installation. They are incompatible, and you need current revisions with confirmed ML support.
Unmount Firewire Target disk mode.
Start using ML.

Migration Assistant won't migrate or assist me

Trying to migrate from my son's Macbook Pro to his new Macbook Air. Both are running 10.6.8 and have had all the latest software updates run. Tried wired (with ethernet adapter for the MBA) and wireless - he doesn't have a Time Machine backup to try.
In each case we get through the point of entering the code from one computer to the other and things chug along, but the screen never comes up asking which items I want to migrate. The Macbook Pro displays a dialog saying that communication was lost from the other computer. I'm given the option to hit cancel which will abort the process (though it never does) or hit OK to continue to try (which never results in success. Meanwhile the MBA just says "processing."
This whole process has been very frustrating. I've read any applicable posting I could find here, but haven't found anything that solves the problem.
Here are some questions I had:
- do specific sharing preferences have to be set on both machines?
- I believe the ethernet port on his MBP works OK. I turned off Airport and was able to connect through ethernet to the Internet. Is there any other way to tell if the ethernet port isn't communicating?
- I tried doing the initial transfer while the two computers were with me for the weekend. Now he's back at school 4 hours away. Is there a way I can screen share with one or both computers to continue to troubleshoot them remotely? If so, pointing me to the source to do that would be helpful as I've not tried it before.
Thanks in advance for your advice.
Patrick

patricksgolden wrote:
I was surprised too when my son fired it up. We bought it at the Navy Exchange in Norfolk in mid-August. It was the last one they had in stock and must have been from a previous inventory. I've sent my son the link to get the free upgrade to Lion, but I told him to hold off until we can get the migration assistant stuff resolved.
If you ever heard of "Migraine Assistant" now you know where it comes from
I always Software Update, install programs from fresh sources, enter the serials, then transfer files manually into their same respective (Music, Pictures, Documents etc) folders on the new Mac as this way it keeps a new boot drive optimized for best computer performance.
All one has to do is use the same drive name and set up the same user name on the new Mac as with the old Mac.
Doing this way this way keeps the iTunes song location pathnames, playlists, others etc work just like before.
There are third party programs that cause all sorts of headaches using migration/setup assistant as they have part of themselves installed in the system, which migration and setup assistant doesn't transfer.
Also migration assistant transfers the user, so now there are two on the machine which the original that was created when the machine was setup has to be removed if not needed.
And to avoid another serious headache, stay away from OS X Lion, seriously for at least several months or more, you likely could sell that new Snow Leopard MacBook AIr for a few hundred dollars more than you paid for it right now.
Lion has a LOT, a LOT of issues, not only with the major changes inflicted, like Autosave, scrolling is backwards, there are no boot disks (requiring a fast and reliable Internet connection to install Lion again) and other nightmares as well a a LOT of third party software and hardware drivers are just not ready for it yet.
Lion will NOT run Rossetta based PowerPC software, so a lot of programs on the old Mac might not run anymore, requiring to pay for new ones, if ones exist yet.
You can download the Lion installer and create a backup image to burn to the DVD or boot off a USB and delete the installer on the Mac without installing. You can also hold the Option key in the MacAppStore on Purchases allows you to download it again. It might be available to download for free without installing forever, if not it's only $29. Not much to save yourself a ton of more headaches as they work out the issues and software gets updated for it.
Lion Up To Date Program (free Lion for machines like yours)
https://www.apple.com/macosx/uptodate/
You can create your own Lion boot disks/USB images using the methods here and elsewhere for USB boot. You must create the image before installing Lion, or the installer deletes itself.
http://eggfreckles.net/notes/burning-a-lion-boot-disc/
Also one has to learn all about the Lion Recovery Partition and Lion Recovery Disk Assistant as there are no boot disks, although Apple does sell a USB of Lion for $69
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718
https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1433

Migration Assistant says "Less than a minute to go" but this goes on for hours and nothing gets transferred to my new iMac 27"

Am trying to transfer all my data from my old MacBook Pro 10.6.8 , 2.8GHz, 4GB memory to my new iMac 27" 10.9.4, 3.2 GHz, 8GB and after 3 days I still can't get there.
I am using Migration Assistant. Both computers are on wi fi. I have connected them together with an ethernet cable.
I can get the process going but hours later the computers say "less than a minute remaining" . I have left them alone for more hours but nothing moves on. I them quit and of course I find that nothing has been transferred.
I am not very skilled at all this so I hope someone can help me with an easy solution.
Thank-you

Hello again baltwo
The above didn't work so I then tried what you suggested and erased the hard disc, reloaded the OSX software and then tried the Migration Assistant again. Same old problem only now it doesn't get beyond "new mac selecting what to import". When I press continue the screen just goes grey then back to the login page.
However another problem I have is that the free 'bundled apps' ... Pages. Numbers, Keynote, Garageband, iMovie and iPhoto have disappeared! I've been to the App store and into my account but they are not there under 'Purchases".
This is all turning into a nightmare so any help would be very welcome.
Thank-you

Migration Assistant caused a lot of problems-help needed.

I used the Migration assistant to copy a friend's account from his laptop's Tiger system to my Mac Pro running Leopard. I simply wanted a copy of his account on the Mac Pro, since it is our office computer, and it would be convenient for him to log in here sometimes. After running the Migration assistant, my Computer's name was changed to his computer's name. I am talking about the Computer Name you see at the top of the Sharing pane in System Preferences. I changed the name back, but other, much worse problems popped up. My Adobe CS3 apps started to act like they were not registered. I have a clone of the system before the problems happened, and would like to revert, but of course my friend's account will need to be imported again. How can I use Migration Assistant to simply import a user account, without creating this nightmare again, and ruining my clone? On my clone, my Adobe apps are still behaving normally, and I want them to stay this way. The alternative would be to reinstall CS3 on the afflicted system, but who knows what other problems might be lurking there?

dwb wrote:
But I don't recall having the ability to select just a single user's home directory ...
The version of Migration Assistant included with Leopard (& I think Tiger) does allow users to select individual user accounts for migration. However, I'm not sure this option is available unless the 'network & other computer settings' option is also selected.
I'm not sure what you mean by 'the global library folder.' User settings would normally be stored in /Users/, in the Library/Preferences/ folder of the respective home folder. System-wide settings would usually be in /Library/Preferences/.

Migration Assistant vs Target Disk

Originally I came here because I am unable to get the two Migration Assistants to talk to each other over ethernet - or Airport. They just kept on "searching for other computers" endlessly until timing out....but - *Forget that for now* - I am waiting on getting a Firewire 800-400 adapter since my new Mini has a 800 port - and my iMac PPC G5 is a 400!
What I did find in reading threads is how problematic MA "might" be - and alternatives to it. So what I'm looking for are recommendations based on the following -
I have a huge number of applications on the G5 - a rough guess is 200+ and that 75% of them are Universal. I don't care about moving anything over other than applications. (Files can simply be brought over as needed by shared disk!) I don't care about user accounts (only me), settings, preferences or anything else at all - JUST APPS!
My biggest concern are licenses/installs. I'm not very organized on this point (thinking I would have no issues using MA) so some came by emails, phone, some are in a box, download documentation or manual and many I can't even remember how it came or what I did with them after I bought the apps. If I got a DMG/Install/MPKG/Zip/PKG. file for instance - chances are I installed and deleted it, rather than burning a disk for a hard backup and writing the S/N on the disk... (learned my lesson there).
Now I'm reading that some of my apps won't work via any type of transfer without chasing down the manufacturer for each one with endless nightmares of being put on hold forever! It could literally take months! This is more than a little disturbing as I was hoping I could just run MA, let it sit overnight and do it's thing and have all my tools ready to go.
I thought moving to an Intel box would make my life easier, but it's not right now! LOL
So now I'm just wondering what's the best approach in my situation?

It went fine using MA - everything appears to have moved over.
1. The "info" on apps no longer says if it's a PPC or Uni or anything - just "app"...kind of strange.
On my system older apps still have a "Kind" of things like "Application (PowerPC)" or "Application (Universal)".
Do I now need to do anything? Repair Permissions? I recently saw one thread when RP was causing someone major problems on a Mini!
Repairing permissions isn't the magic bullet that some fee it is. In particular, it won't do anything for non-Apple software.
So far the couple of apps that I have tried are DOA on the Intel box after a MA xfer...meaning the keys didn't come over.
Better than having to reinstall everything!

After a Lion clean install, how do I retrieve my data from external back-up? Following Apple advice for use of Migration Assistant did not work creating similar issues leading to clean install.

After a Lion clean install, how do I retrieve my data from external hard drive?
Following Apple advice I used Migration Assistant which crashed new system twice which is why I had to clean install Lion in the first place.
Is there a sure way of doing it?
I have only a few programs that I will have to install myself and that should not be a problem.
I just want my data, music and photos back where I can use them.

Time machine backups. I went to migration assistant a few hours ago and limited my selection to "users", no need for applications, settings and other files. Stuff started moving over at a fast pace but has now seemed to stall.
I will let it run overnight as there are lots of songs and photos as well as a few movies.
If that does not work, then I will go into TM and try restore. I have restored some things in the past such a mail files and it has worked well.
The Apple fellow at the store told me to go right into TM, he may have had a point. I'll get it eventually.

I transferred data from my external hard drive to my restored Mac Book Pro via migration assistant and now my external hard drive in time capsule has red minus signs. How do I get rid of that without getting rid of any of my data?

I used Migration Assistant to transfer my data from my external hard drive via Time Capsule to my restored Mac Book Pro. When I now go into Time Capsule I there are red minus signs in the corner of all the folders that are contained in my back up. How do I get rid of this and access my previous back-ups?

Select the drive and Finder > Get info and at the bottom "ignore permissions on this volume"
You can copy the files, but the ownership on the files still belongs to the other user account, once your done copying, then perform a #6 Reset Users Permissions and that will set all the ownership to that account.
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
Another method is to copy the entire folder, then change it's permissions.

Migration assistant stopped working and has left me with 100gb in 'other'? How do I delete 'other' and what is it exactly?

I recently invested $2000 (one week ago) in a Macbook Pro Retina 2014 2.8ghz 512gb. Dont get me wrong, I am in love with my product and am extremely satisfied but I have honestly encountered nothing but issues.
My first issue was the transferring of data from my 2010 white macbook 500gb. Both laptops have Yosemite installed and are 100% up to date but I have spent the last week getting them to talk to each other. I am not new to the workings of Apple but I have never endeavoured to use applications such as airdrop, migration assisstant or even bluetooth.
My first attempt was to transfer 200gb of files (Photos mainly, I'm a photographer) to my other laptop via a 64gb USB in segments. But after an hour and only 10gb getting copied across, I decided other alternatives may be of more help.
That is when I came to my first dilemma: AIRDROP. Airdrop is crazy. Yes I did click the option on my retina to search for older macs and yes they did connect. I can send files from my MBR to my white macbook 2010 immediately but my old macbook will not send files to my retina. Yes all of the necessary sharing settings are in place - both MacBooks have the same settings selected so I cannot figure out what to do. Information on this subject would also be helpful yet it is not the end of my troubles.
Second Issue: Migration Assistant.
So yesterday I discovered this little 'gem'. I am a very impatient person so you can imagine i did not appreciate 20 hours of file transfers (via wifi as i do not have a thunderbolt to ethernet adaptor for MBR). Anyway that's all well and good if it actually worked. But of course it did not. I followed apples instructions and I was down to my final 4 hours this morning when my MBR told me the connection was lost and to reconnect. It was making the loudest whirring noise like air coming from inside the hard drive or something. I freaked out. My $2000 machine should not be doing this. It was only a little bit warm; not hot but it was incredibly loud, I'm not sure how to describe it. Keep in mind this computer is brand new so please tell me: WHAT WAS THE SOUND?!?!?!?! AND WHY? what was wrong? what could I have possibly done wrong? My wifi WAS working because my desktop PC was connected. So i waited and waited. Of course I couldn't actually do anything without quitting airdrop and in the end that's just what I had to do. A lot of time wasted for such an unsuccessful cause.
That brings me to my final issue:
So after migration had.... "completed" or crashed or whatever you want to call it, I at least assumed some of the files had maybe copied over and i could just resume from where I left off last time somehow. Oh how stupid that assumption was. My user account did in fact copy over but not a single file copied. And yes, I did log into that user account to check. ANYWAY, I went onto "about this mac" to see my storage info (still being optimistic about my wasted 20 hours). SURPRISE SURPRISE: Yet another problem. I now have 100gb in "other". This macbook is brand new. I should not have any GB in other. I am so incredibly annoyed. HOW DO I DELETE OTHER?! (preferably without downloading software) and is there anything else of importance in other that i should be careful not to delete that is contained within other?
I am only 15 years old and this was a massive investment for me so I treat my Macbook like a baby. And no, I'm not spoilt by my parents. I had to work at Subway for a year to earn $2000 - without spending a single cent (My wage is only $9.00AUD an hour so i essentially worked some 222 hours for this macbook). And I'm not crazy, I needed it for school.
Anyway I'm not impressed with apple. I have Applecare but they aren't open on the weekends or whenever I try to call so that hasn't exactly been helpful. PLEASE HELP ME.

Make a note of all your settings for Wi-Fi in the Network preference pane, then delete the connection from the connection list.
Launch the Keychain Access application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Keychain Access in the page that opens.
In the keychain list, an item named "System" should be listed. If it isn't, select File ▹ Add Keychain from the menu bar and add the following:
/Library/Keychains/System.keychain
Now search in Keychain Access for the name of the wireless network (not the name of the router.) Double-click one of the items and check the box labeled Show password in the inspector window. You'll be prompted for your keychain password to confirm. Make a note of the network password. Then delete every "AirPort Network Password" in the search results. Quit Keychain Access.
Go back to the Network preference pane and recreate the Wi-Fi connection with the same settings as before. You do this by clicking the plus-sign icon below the connection list, and selecting Wi-Fi as the interface in the sheet that opens. Select Join other network from the Network Name menu, then select your network. Enter the password when prompted and save it in the keychain.

HT4796 Migration assistant is telling me that it has lost connection with my Mac and to ensure they are on the same network. They are, and an ethernet cable is plugged into them. What do i do?

Migration Assistant has been running since yesterday evening. My Dell is now telling me that its trying to reconnect to my Mac and to ensure they are both using the same network. I have an Ethernet cable plugged in them and they are both on the same WiFi. What can I do?

Hello Wyodor,
thanks for your reply on my question.
You are wright the index file is 308 KB.
And offcourse that I delete my files and documents is not an Iweb problem, but because my English is not that good, that I thougt I try to tell the whole story, and hope people can read trough the lines.
Why I didn't use Iweb to upload to the server is because the server company recommanded to use file zilla. And I am a nobody with this kind of things, so I did exactly what they tell me to do.
No, i did not make a backup of Iweb and the domain file, but reading other messages on this forum showed me that I can maybe try to make empty the cashfile (?)
and otherwise I have bad luck and have to make my website again. Offcourse I have a lot of examples from all the pages (copied from the local map to my USB stick) and my website is aprox. 15 Mb, (not so big) so it will cost me a few nigths.
But I'm still hoping on a miracle :-)
greetings Lasource

Migration assistant freezes - PLEASE HELP ASAP

I am trying to run the migration assistant on a new imac i7 that I received. The "old" machine is an i5 ,and it is transferring about 500gb of data. It ran for many hours, and has been stuck on "19 minutes" remaining for about an hour now. What should I do?
Am I going to have to redo the entire transfer? (I hope not - it took HOURS, AND HOURS!)
I'm sure it isn't "good" to simply power off, or unplug one of the machines while the migration assistant is running. What should I do? Need to some asap, as I need to get the machine up and running.
Thanks for your help!
-Rick
twitter.com/Rick_Smith

Thanks for the feedback. I actually just followed the directions on the new i7.
I took it out of the box, powered on, went through a few menus, and then selected the option to transfer settings from another mac. It never asked for updates, or anything.
It simply asked me to hook up a firewire cable (fw 800), and then restart the "old" computer and hold down "t" as it restarted. It did that, the new machine "found" the "old" one, and it started transferring.
I had about 500 gb of data on the old machine. So it's taken a long time, but then it got to 19 min remaining, and has been stuck there every since. I really hate doing a hard restart, but it looks like I have no choice...
I guess I"ll go try that..
**fingers crossed*

Using A FireWire cable between two Macs and Migration Assistance to transfer all my desktop to my macbook laptop, will all my apps, bookmarks, contacts and files be transferred? I am trying to make a complete copy of my desktop to my laptop.

Using a FireWire cable between two Macs and the Migration Assistance feature, will al my apps, bookmarks, contacts and files be tranferred?

See Pondini's Setup New Mac guide

Computer not responding during migration assist

I bought a 27" iMac and have been trying to use migration assist to transfer my files and settings over from my 17" MacBook Pro with little success. The iMac recognizes the MacBook and the confirmation code pops up on both but once the migration begins, the iMac has a message pop up that says the MacBook is not responding, even though it has a message saying that the iMac is ready.
I've tried searching other posts here but can't seem to find any with the same issue. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks.

Well, I was following the instructions as they were presented on the screen. As I mentioned, things seemed to progress normally, the two computers seemed to be communicating but then the message that the MBP was not responding would pop up and I would be forced to quit the migration.
I had tried both FW 800 and ethernet connections to no avail. After updating the iMac, I am running Mountain Lion on both machines and had consulted Pondini's guide prior to posting here. I also opened up all the sharing options I could find on both computers thinking that would help. I'll take a closer look at Pondini's guide and see if that provides some answers.
Thanks.

Migration Assistant Nightmares

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